Dutch Schultz Treasure
Case File: Dutch Schultz Treasure Location: Phoenicia, New York Date: 1935 Description: The treasure supposedly includes bundles of thousand dollar bills, negotiable Liberty Bonds, gold coins, diamonds, and other gems into a steel plated strongbox, worth more than $50 million dollars. Case History: Thirty-three-year-old Dutch Schultz was an infamous crime boss in New York's underworld. While on his deathbed from a shooting in 1935, Schultz rambled incoherently about a $7 million dollar fortune he had buried along Esopus Creek in upstate New York. At the end of the Roaring Twenties, Dutch Schultz's criminal empire was making more than $20 million dollars a year. In 1933, he was named "Public Enemy No. 1" by the Justice Department. But like Al Capone before him, Schultz was highly vulnerable to the newly enacted federal income tax law. When he was indicted by a Grand Jury for income tax evasion, Schultz immediately took steps to protect his money and decided that he needed a nest egg to fall back on in case he was sent to prison. He had his top lieutenants clean out his safety deposit boxes and gather together all of his cash from his available bank accounts. At a hideaway in Connecticut, Dutch, "Lulu" Rosencrantz, and Marty Krompier packed everything up in a steel-plated strongbox. One night, Dutch and Lulu traveled to Phoenicia, New York, and buried everything near the trunk of a tree with an "X" carved into it. He swore Lulu to secrecy, but Lulu couldn't keep his mouth shut and told Krompier where the treasure was buried. Some day he even drew Krompier a map to the treasure. Krompier also couldn't keep his mouth shut and told several people about the treasure. Schultz became the target of an intense manhunt led by Thomas Dewey; in 1934, he surrendered to authorities in Albany. His first trial resulted in a hung jury. At his second trial, he was acquitted due to "lack of evidence". In reality, he was involved with jury tampering. After his acquittal, he moved his headquarters to a tavern in New Jersey. He had many members of the New York crime syndicate killed. He tried to have Dewey assassinated as well, but his crime partners talked him out of it. On October 23, 1935, Schultz was gunned down by members of the crime syndicate. His bodyguard, "Lulu" Rosencrantz, also fell from shots by rival Mafia figures. Before his death, Schultz made his confession about his treasure. His death left only Marty Krompier who possibly knew where the treasure was buried, but two henchmen caught up with Marty at a barber shop in New York City, gunned him down and took the map. Krompier survived the attack, but he was never able to locate the treasure without the map. Thomas Terry is an author of several books on buried treasure and believes still exists still buried somewhere in upstate New York. Background: Dutch Schultz was born Arthur Flegenheimer in 1902, but he was already a career criminal by the age of twenty-five. Reported to have had 136 people killed in under ten years, he made millions illegally manufacturing and distributing bootleg liquor during Prohibition. Investigations: Author Thomas Terry has tried to search for Dutch Schultz's buried treasure. Extra Notes: This case originally ran on the April 27, 1994 episode. Results: Unresolved. However, in his book "Nick The Greek: King of the Gamblers" by Cy Rice, legendary gambler Nick the Greek said that before his death, Dutch Schultz gave him a briefcase for safe-keeping. After Schultz's death, Nick the Greek opened the briefcase and found that it contained $5 million dollars in $1000 and $10000 bills (up until 1968, $1000 and $10000 were available to the general public and could be used at any store). According to Nick, he used this money to replenish his bankroll and gambled it away. It could be possible that Dutch had liquidated the treasure and gave it to Nick for safekeeping since he couldn't trust most of the men under him. Links: * Dutch Schultz Treasure on Unsolved.com * Dutch Schultz on Wikipedia * Dutch Schultz on Biography.com * The Stuff of Dreams: Dutch Schultz's Buried Loot * Search for Gangster's Treasure Finds More Tin Than Gold ---- Category:New York Category:1935 Category:Treasure Category:Murder Category:Unresolved Category:Mafia-Related Cases